Inequality and changes in women's use of maternal health-care services in Tajikistan

Using recently available survey data for Tajikistan, this study explores changes in the pattern of maternal health care during the last decade and the extent to which inequalities in access to that care have emerged. In particular, the links between poverty and women's educational status and the use of maternal health-care services are investigated. The survey findings demonstrate a significant decline in the use of maternal health-care services in Tajikistan since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They show changes in the location of delivery and the person providing assistance, with a clear shift away from giving birth in a medical facility toward giving birth at home. More than two-fifths of all women who gave birth in the year prior to the survey delivered their baby at home. Women from the poorest quintile are three times more likely than women from the richest quintile to undergo a home delivery without a trained assistant.